


Making Connections

by Spindizzy



Category: Final Fantasy X-2
Genre: M/M, Project: 100000 words of mantouching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-24
Updated: 2010-01-24
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spindizzy/pseuds/Spindizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gippal, despite all appearances, was normally pretty good at noticing things and making connections.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Connections

Gippal, despite all appearances, was normally pretty good at noticing things and making connections - that was how you got some of the more interesting machina back together; you figured out where things were missing from, and made the connection with the parts you'd found.

Still, Baralai was _sneaky._ No one could expect Gippal to keep up with whatever was going on in his head.

Not that he didn't try.

Like, he'd noticed that Baralai had a tendency to show up wherever Gippal and his work crews were - but that was only to be expected, seeing as they'd been working on Bevelle Palace at the time. The acolytes were a lot more helpful when Baralai was there (It was kinda reassuring to find that there was somewhere where Al Bhed haters were thriving; people accepting him mostly on sight was something he really couldn't get used to), so Gippal couldn't complain. Although he had to admit that Baralai's prescence was distracting - especially when Baralai was staring at him with a look on his face that Gippal couldn't figure out. Intrigued, maybe.

If Gippal looked at him while he was giving instructions in Al Bhed, he could _see_ Baralai trying to hide behind his Praetor mask, the expression that really wasn't an expression. Still, the Praetor face couldn't hide the fact that Baralai's eyes were wide and dark and fixed on _him._

If there was a connection between that look and Baralai calling him a week or so later to ask for lessons in Al Bhed, Gippal didn't make it until it was too late. Until Baralai was watching him talk, eyes dark and a half-smile on his face that - that really was even more distracting than Baralai watching him work. Until Baralai was repeating the words Gippal was teaching him in a low, hoarse voice.

It was probably a good thing Gippal hadn't made the connection. If he had, he might not have ended up with Baralai sat on his desk, hands scrabbling over Gippal's back for purchase, muttering words into Gippal's hair that he wasn't even paying attention to anymore. _That_ would've been a crime.

"Why are you still talking?" Gippal asked, trying to yank Baralai's shirt off. It'd probably have been easier if he'd stop mouthing the panic-fast pulse in Baralai's throat, but he'd proved pretty conclusively - and by conclusively, he meant he'd tested the theory at least a dozen times; he gave that lecture too many times to have an excuse for not following his own advice - that it was one of those spots rendered Baralai as close to non-verbal as he got.

"Be - because -"

Non-verbal, in Baralai terms, didn't mean that he shut up. It meant that he dropped his head back, baring his throat, trying to breathe and get the words out at the same time. "Because -" One of Baralai's hands scrabbled backwards, and something clattered to the floor. It wouldn't have been that important, Gippal didn't leave anything important in his office, he was never in here - but it distracted him enough that he didn't realise what Baralai's other hand was doing until it was pressed against the front of his pants.

_That_ wasn't playing fair. Not that Gippal had the breath to complain.

"Gippal," Baralai started, in a tone that probably would've passed for unruffled if Gippal hadn't known him better. "Why do you ask questions if -" The hand moved to tug at Gippal's belt. " - if you're not going to listen to the answer?"

Because the answer really wasn't important right now. What was important was that there were three hands fumbling with Gippal's belt, two of them his own, and the damn thing wasn't com - wasn't unfastening.

Then Baralai stopped helping, his hand resting on the buckle, right in the way, and slid his other hand into the hair at the back of Gippal's neck. He wasn't sure if Baralai leaned up, or if he'd been pulled down, but Baralai was suddenly close enough that Gippal thought he was going to kiss him - yeah, like that'd help his co-ordination. Baralai stopped though, close enough that Gippal could feel his lips moving as he spoke. "I feel I should point out that you're supposed to be teaching me Al Bhed right now, not..."

"I was doing," Gippal protested. "We're just... Taking a break." Baralai had picked up the basics as fast as he did everything else. That deserved _some_ kind of reward, didn't it? Or revenge for the watching and - and the voice he'd been using - and the fact that he was deliberately in the way of Gippal taking off any clothes.

At this point, he wasn't sure there was any difference between the two.

Gippal leaned in, mouth close to Baralai's ear and one hand buried in his hair. He could feel Baralai shivering all ready. _"Fa lyh lynno uh druikr, ev oui fyhd..."_


End file.
